Pairs Gymnastics

They could have taken the sport by storm.  They will tell you that each and every time the family gets together.  It is a bitter conversation, kind of like one you would expect on a rehab show, or True Hollywood Stories..."parent squashes child's dream".  Or in our case, two children and one dream that they didn't even know they had.  Pairs Gymnastics Champions.
It all began in Germany.  Germany produces a fair number of gymnastics champions, I suppose, so I can understand why being in Germany adds fuel to this ridiculous fire.  It all began in Germany, at the American elementary school, in the cafeteria/theater/gym.  See how the fire begins to dim?  The instructor, Miss Mary, a wonderful, beautiful former college gymnast who was the wife of a soldier and had volunteered to teach.  Dimming still.  The gymnasts, and that is a word I will use very loosely here, Ashlyn and Hayley White.  Future Pairs Gymnastics Champions.   Until their parents tore them out of class, drug them back to America and never enrolled them in anything again!
So it really wasn't as harsh as all that.  Ashlyn was five, Hayley was three.  Gymnastics lessons were a couple nights a week for a few dollars a class.  Danny was away and we were looking for something fun to get us out of the house.  WIN, WIN, WIN!  Right?  Right!  The girls had fun.  At Christmas time, there was a show and a potluck at the school.  The girls got leotards, got to do somersaults and got fancy Army medals.  Then Miss Mary had to go back to America and gymnastics was over.   Danny and I did not seek out another class.  When we returned to America, we did not sign them up for tumbling, we did not put a small machine shed up in the backyard and buy some mats, we did not encourage them to wear leotards!  In fact, we kind of just let them be kids.
Fast forward to more recent years.  Danny and I thought ourselves pretty decent parents.  We would put the kids into sports or music if the kids were interested, the only rule was that they had to see the season, lesson through and could not quit.  Sure, we had visions of victories, scholarships, fame.  I think every parent does to some extent.  But, we also knew that the gene pool was probably pretty 50/50.  My 50 being unmusical and uncoordinated.  Our visions were realistic, too.  We wanted the kids to find some things they loved that we could afford to keep them in.  There was track, soccer and wrestling, band, orchestra and guitar.  We thought they were happy and satisfied.  We were wrong, terribly, terribly wrong.

Pairs Gymnastics, as far as Ashlyn and Hayley were concerned, was where their happiness was.
 
I suppose Danny and I are somehow to blame for the lack of pairs gymnastics coverage on ESPN.  It is not yet recognized as an Olympic sport.  In fact, it did not bring up a single hit on a websearch.  Maybe because it is nonexistent.  Probably because the two greatest pairs gymnasts that ever were, weren't.